Who’s Your Broadway Valentine?
As the country prepares to celebrate the upcoming holiday of hearts and kisses, we here at Make Musicals are going to share a little love with the people who inspire us in this crazy, wonderful business of show. Care to join us?
It’s simple!
Just write an email of gratitude to someone in the theater (living or dead) who has inspired you and send it to us at valentine@makemusicals.com. Let us know if you want us to post it anonymously or signed.
If a handwritten love letter is more your style, take a photo of your note and either email the photo to valentine@makemusicals.com or tweet it to Make Musicals at @brisatrinchero with the hashtag #makemusicalsvalentine.
If you’re tech savvy and your camera of choice is Instagram, make sure it is synced up with your Twitter account so it publishes on both applications.
Between now and February 14th, we’re compiling all the letters and notes in a digital collection of inspiration, admiration, and love. See it here: makemusicals.com/broadway-valentines/. We’ll also do our best to make sure your letter’s recipient sees your note (unless that would require a seance).
Join us and everyone else who loves this business and the amazing people who make it possible. Take a few minutes to tell someone what they mean to you, share a story, or a few words of gratitude.
Perhaps you’ll write to the theater person you have always wanted to be. Maybe it’s the person who got you excited about show business in the first place. Maybe it’s someone you know or have worked with. Or perhaps it’s the person who’s career and talent you’ve admired from afar.
It’s easy to think that our theater idols, whether on stage or behind the curtain, go home every night with bursting mail sacks and email boxes full of fan mail. But that’s just not true. Heartfelt fan mail is rarer than you might think. We know of more than a few theater icons who have fan letters they’ve kept close their hearts, tucked away for a rainy day.
You may or may not get a response. But that’s not the point. The point is to do something wonderful for someone who has done something wonderful for you. And who knows? While you’re writing your letter, someone may be writing one to you!
So whether you adore Valentine’s day or begrudge Hallmark’s favorite time of year, this is your chance to spread a little bit of theater love.
Send us your letter today!
Posted in The Business of Show Business No Comments »
Don’t Tell Me You Wrote The Next Broadway Hit
It takes a lot of “hands” to create a musical theater hit.
Don’t tell me you have the next Broadway hit on your hands. You may have written a great draft of a script, have a brilliant idea for a show, or have licensed a hot movie property or musical catalog. But that alone does not a hit make.
To truly have a hit on your hands you’ll need a whole lot more hands. First, you’ll need just the right development partners for your piece, including an exceptional producer and the ideal directors and designers.
Next, you’ll have to navigate your promising musical through months and years of development, collecting the finger prints of countless creative collaborators.
If all goes well, you’ll find success along the way in the form of positive feedback, production offers, or eager investors. But you still don’t have a hit.
Next, you’ll open your definitive production on Broadway, off-Broadway or at your favorite regional theater. The show is now in the hands of the extraordinary cast, musicians, crew, and no small amount of money and marketing will have been added to the mix.
If you’re right about your show, you’ll sell hundreds or thousands of tickets and audiences will lay down the big bucks to see your musical night after night. Only THEN can you tell me you have a hit.
Until then, tell me you have a new musical that you’re passionate about. Tell me you have ten reasons why audiences will love your show. Tell me why you think we would work well together or ask me for help. Tell me about your successes or talented collaborators.
But unless you are inviting me to your 100th sold out performance (and I hope you do!), don’t tell me you have the next Broadway hit on your hands.
Posted in Behind-the-Scenes, The Business of Show Business 3 Comments »
Risky Business: The Musical
Don’t underestimate the impact that your collaborators’ risk tolerance can have on your new musical.
Making musicals is a risky business. We risk our time, our money, our reputation, and sometimes what feels like our sanity to get a show off the ground. A lot of people have to take a lot of risks to create a show. And not just to create a successful show. A lot of people have to put time, money and ego into shows that turn out to be unsuccessful.
However, the amount of risk on any given theater project varies greatly from person to person.
For example, say a writing team and a producer are working on a new musical. One writer may be able to take a month off to take advantage of a valuable residency to work on the piece, whereas another writer may be putting his job or family life in jeopardy if he goes away for an extended period.
One producer may find it easy to write a $50,000 check to pay for a demo recording while another would have to take out a second mortgage.
Risk tolerance also varies from person to person. It may turn out that same writer is, in fact, willing to risk a day job in hopes the musical will make it worth while someday. A producer may be willing to put it all on the line.
What’s important here, is to not underestimate the impact of risk.
The conversation between writers and producers tends to be: “What next steps make sense for a show?” When the real question should be: “What next steps make sense for the team?”
A writer’s retreat, no matter how fabulous, doesn’t make sense as a next step for writers who can’t get away. An expensive reading or demo doesn’t make sense for producers who are working on a shoestring budget.
The truth is, there’s no formula for creating the perfect musical. But what I can tell you without a doubt is: if it doesn’t make sense for the players, it doesn’t make sense for the play.
Posted in Politics of Musicals, The Business of Show Business 2 Comments »
A 5,6,7,8…The numbers are in!
Are you a huge theater fan? Well, you’re not alone. In fact, far from it. Tis the season when the reports come out from the fabulous research departments at organizations like Theater Communications Group and The Broadway League.
Curious what you and your theater going colleagues were up to last year?
Without further ado…
There were sixty million butts in seats in 2011. I use the term “butts in seats” (pardon my French) because we can assume that number includes repeat customers. In fact, I personally account for probably 100 of those 60 million.
That 60,000,000 includes Broadway, non-profit theaters, and national tours. That’s equivalent to 20% of the entire US population. Or the same as if every single person in California and New York attended a theater production in one year (thanks Wikipedia). Not too shabby, huh?
Want to be really wowed? Those theater goers spent a whopping $3 billion dollars on theater tickets. That’s the equivalent of every US resident spending $10 at the theater or in this case, 60 million theater goers spending approximately $50 per ticket. It’s also the same, by the way, as if all those theater goers banded together and built 3 houses like THIS. But I digress.
Believe it or not, theater attendance is actually going down. These impressive figures were even more eye-popping a few years ago. Are you going to sit idly by and watch our numbers dwindle? I hope not!
In fact, I recommend that we all add a new item to our new year’s resolutions list: more butts in seats! If we do our job right, we may even be able to accomplish THIS exciting goal.
Perhaps we should start an informal competition… As we embark into 2013, we can each keep track of how many theater events we attend and how many people we bring with us. This time next year we can compare notes and see if we’ve done anything to start moving those stats I mentioned above in the right direction!
Who’s with me?
This is a repost from my article today on MTI.
Posted in Behind-the-Scenes, Politics of Musicals, The Business of Show Business No Comments »
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